Chapter 7

Gently blowing into the steaming mug, she took another sip of the delicious coffee as she gazed through the large window, the sun already beaming at her, even if it was still early in the morning.

And what a beautiful day it will be...

She widely smiled as the thought of finally going to visit her mom and her home again made her feel so happy.

It was her weekend off from the coffee shop, and miss Nancy had been kind enough to also relieve her from her duties today, so she could go home and spend some nice, quality time with her mother and her best friend.

Oh boy I can't wait for that! She thought with excitement as her gleaming green eyes still stared through the panelled window, a brilliant idea now entering her mind as she looked over the sea of thorny bushes filled with big blood-red roses in full bloom.

"Miss Nancy?"

The maid hummed in response as she was still busy cooking some breakfast.

"Can I take a few roses for my mom?" She nicely asked, the maid giving her a warm smile as she turned around to look at the girl.

"Of course dear, you can take as many as you please," She consented, the girl immediately scrambling from her seat to give the maid a quick hug.

"Thank you!"

The woman chuckled, gently patting the girl's back before she pulled back, staring in awe at that radiant expression now marring Diana's delicate features.

"Be careful though, darling, those thorns are very sharp," The old woman advised as she watched the girl hurry to the supply closet to retrieve some gardening scissors and a glove.

"I will, I promise," She nodded with another smile before she ran to go outside and through the garden.

Gazing at the beautiful flowers surrounding her, she carefully walked down the barely visible stone path, stopping from time to time to cut a few roses from here and there and even take off their thorns. She wouldn't want her mom to get a prick or a scratch when she'd be receiving them.

So after a few more roses gathered, she fondly looked at her nicely-made bouquet, taking a moment to admire their deep red color, right before the image of those beautifully tattooed roses on the sides of Mr. King's neck popped at the front of her mind.

She had to admit that they suited him very well though. They made him look so...majestic...Just like the flower itself...

Lightly shaking her head to rid herself of such odd thoughts, she averted her attention towards what stood before her, lastly noticing the glass-made greenhouse filled with all kinds of flowers and plants, its dirty and weathered condition though making her want to make her way right in and give it a generous reconditioning.

Not today though...

She lightly smiled as her gaze once again fell upon the bouquet in her hand, the girl quickly turning around to run back to the house, completely unaware of those dark eyes watching her from a high up window from a while ago.

.•**•.

Standing close by the window, Nicholas watched with piqued interest as the girl he had reluctantly allowed Nancy to keep was now casually strolling through the rose gardens, the morning sun caressing those silky caramel tresses of hers. She was really beautiful. For a human. He had to give her that.

He'd been so against her staying here at first, after so many mishaps and unfortunate accidents that had happened on his estate's grounds over the time. He was just tired. Overwrought. He was tired of constantly having to cover it all up, to lie and pretend for the sake of his peace. He was sick of the killings. Every goddamned Blood Moon.

Some time ago, it had somehow gotten to his Nana's ears, the utterly absurd and completely false notion that vampires could have human mates. That was when she'd started to bring all these girls into his home. One after the other, under the pretext of her needing help around the estate. It made him laugh at the silly idea. He was no shifter. There was no such thing as human mates for his kind. What would be the point of it anyway, seeing as they were also their primary source of nourishment? They could easily kill their own soulmates, provoke themselves an immense amount of grief. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

He still let her have her way at first, allowing her to hire girl after girl after girl. He ended up killing them, one after the other. Proving her wrong, time and again. But she was way too stubborn to give up. She just kept on trying. Every few years.

Strangely enough, things had been a little different this time. For him, at least. A single glance at this certain girl, a subtle whiff of her exquisite and unique scent and he'd suddenly found himself unable to say no. No matter how much he'd wanted to. No matter how many times he'd told the stubborn woman to stop trying, and that it was of no use. He would never find his true beloved into any of those silly girls crossing his threshold. It was simply not possible. It couldn't be. They were mere humans, to begin with. And it was never meant to be that easy anyway. There was no simple way for him to break the curse. Never was. He would've found out a long time ago if there actually was.

He continued to watch as the girl bent over to smell a red rose, a delicate smile spreading over her features before she proceeded to carefully cut it off and take out its thorns. This peculiar human being. There was something about her. Something that he'd found himself wanting to discover.

She smelled so much better than any other human he had ever encountered in his long and damned life. So sweet and alluring. It was as if her blood itself called out to him. Inviting him to have a taste of it. Not to mention that he'd happened to discover that her body appealed to him too, which was a very rare occurrence. He usually only lusted for blood from these women, not for sex too.

Well, that could only be deemed as a nice bonus, seeing as it had indeed been a while since his last tryst with one of her kind.

"Well isn't she a beauty? That perky ass, those round tits...Mmm...such a sweet little sight..."

Nicholas suddenly froze at the sound of that dark and gravely voice, his brown eyes still attached to the unsuspecting human in the garden, even though he could definitely feel that menacing presence so close to him. Those tell-tale signs. The subtle change in temperature. That pungent and sickly-sweet smell of a rotting corpse. It made his usually-still stomach churn. Upheave its non-existent contents.

The demon? Why was he here? It had been so long since his last visit. More than a decade, to be more precise. He had offered his sacrifice in blood already. What did he want now?

"I've already paid this little bitch a visit, in her dreams," The hideous creature with the vauge shape of a male commented as it also moved closer to the window to take a look at the girl, his tall frame overreaching Nicholas' 6'5" with his long pair of horns that curved upwards. He looked like a sacrilegious product between man and devil, with a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth and those slitted yellowish eyes, his facial features looking more devilish than man. The rest of him was equally appalling. A muscled and male body but with black charred skin, his fingers though extending into long and sharp claws.

"You should know that I used your appearance. And she happened to like it so much," the demon barked out a sharp and grating laugh.

Nicholas remained silent, simply watching him now.

"Fun fact, she's a virgin...Oh my Dark Lord, how I love virgins...They're so pure and delicious, ooh and those sweet little cries," The demon darkly chuckled, right before he started to mimic the moans and desperate cries of a girl right next to Nicholas' ear, the brooding vampire secretly finding himself so horrified by the sounds as they sounded so...disgustingly authentic. Fucking hell. Five minutes in his presence and he was already growing weary.

"What the hell do you want?" He harshly spat out as he could not stand to hear a sound more coming out of that wretched mouth of his, barely holding himself together as he so wanted to bash the demon's face in with his fist.

"I feel it, Nicholas," The demon suddenly said, floating through the room like a ghost as he moved to sit into a comfy chair. The vampire intently followed him with his gaze.

Feel? Feel what?

"I'm feeling our tether straining and I'm not happy," The demon continued as he nonchalantly plucked a grape sitting on a tray close to him and popped it into his mouth, all the while Nicholas stared at him, barely managing to hide his bewilderment.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He angrily spat, throwing him a disdainful glower. Was this another sick game of his?

"Oh don't give me that ignorant crap you asshole! You did something and you know it!" The demon roared, suddenly floating to stand right in front of the vampire.

Nicholas' brows knitted. Seriously, what the fuck was he on about?

"You've felt a little something-something tingling in your pants didn't you?" The malicious creature asked with a wicked grin as he pointed a sharp claw to the zipper of his dress pants.

What the fuck did that have to do with anything? He could fuck or feel lust for whomever he pleased to. Not that it was any of his business. He'd been respecting his part of the deal, why the hell did it matter if he fucked a human or not in the meantime?

"You want yourself a little piece of that, don't you?" The demon continued to goad him, the thoroughly vexed vampire already about to tell him to shove it and leave him the fuck alone when a subtle whiff of a certain emotion suddenly reached his sensitive nostrils.

Fear. Nervousness. He'd slipped. The almighty demon before him had somehow failed to mask his emotions entirely during this angry little...whatever this had been so far.

Wait. Why would he feel fear? Or even anything at all? It didn't make any sense. None of it did. Was he...afraid of him? No, that couldn't be it. He'd been feeding off of him regularly. He surely must've known how drained that usually left him.

Why did he say that he could feel their tether straining though? How? Was that even possible?

"Do you want me to hurt her, Nicholas? Do you want me to go downstairs to our Lord and start torturing your precious little Addy? Because trust me, I will! So you better stop it! I don't know what's going on, what you're secretly doing behind my back but you better stop it! Now! You will not manage to escape me, Nicholas! Never!"

The male continued to look at the now empty spot as the bastard had quickly vanished into thin air right after that little scene, bewildered by those sickening threats the demon had just spewed in his face. He threatened to torture Adelaide. His only love. His life partner. The one he himself had taken away from him. And he couldn't even understand why. How did it happen? What did he do? And how did he manage to actually strain the tether? Could it be?

Could it be her? He found himself asking upon taking another look through the window, watching the girl leave his gardens with a nice bouquet of red roses. He almost laughed at that dumb thought. That was impossible. She was just a human. Another bloodbag who happened to rouse more than just his bloodlust.

He still couldn't comprehend why the demon had reacted like that though. Why he appeared to be so...vexed by his mild attraction to her. He'd never done that before. And there had been a few lucky damsels that have warmed his bed on their way to an early grave.

Why now? Why her?